The SGAE Foundation and the San Sebastian Film Festival have announced the four female and two male directors who are nominated for the Dunia Ayaso 2024 Award, which recognises the gender perspective in film: Antonio Chavarrías for La abadesa, Andrea Jaurrieta for Nina, Sonia Méndez for As Neves, Pilar Palomero for Los destellos, Celia Rico for Los pequeños amores and Chema Rodríguez for Orgullo vieja.
The winner of the award will be announced next Friday, 27th September at 16:30 at the Kursaal Press Club. If you would like to attend the award giving event, you can register here: mcalvob@sgae.es
Five of the six films have been selected by the San Sebastian Festival from the catalogue that makes up the non-competitive Made in Spain section, co-organised by the SGAE Foundation, while Los destellos by Pilar Palomero is in the Official Selection.
Now in its eighth year, the 5,000 euro award is a tribute to the Canary Islands filmmaker Dunia Ayaso, who died in 2014 and is a symbol of cinema from a gender perspective.
With this award, the SGAE Foundation and the Festival honour the director of the most recent feature film that, in addition to its cinematographic value, best shows the gender perspective through female characters who play a leading role in the story or that portrays the situation of women in society. Films that go beyond the stereotypes and clichés that so often distort the reality of women, their potential and their historical memory.
A jury chaired by last year's winner, Elena Martín Gimeno, for her film Creatura, and completed by Guadalupe Balaguer, producer and president of the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (CIMA), and filmmaker María Ripoll will be responsible for selecting the winning director of this year's edition.
Previous winners have included Carla Simón (2017) for Verano 1993, the filmmaker Arantxa Echevarría for Carmen y Lola (2018), Belén Funes for La hija de un ladrón (2019), Pilar Palomero for her debut feature Las niñas (2020), Ainhoa Rodríguez for Destello Bravío (2021) and Rocío Mesa for Secaderos (2022).
Isabel’s life turns on its head the day her daughter Madalen asks her to make regular visits to the ailing Ramón. Fifteen years after leaving her ex-husband, a man she sees as a stranger despite having been married to him for years, Isabel experiences renewed feelings of the resentment she thought she had left behind. But accompanying Ramón at his most vulnerable will make her see what happened to them with fresh eyes and allow her to concentrate on her own life as it stands today.
As Neves is a village in the Galician mountains where everybody knows everybody. On carnival night a group of partying teens take mushrooms for the first time. The next morning they waken to a snow storm only to realise that Paula, one of the girls at the party, is missing. Meanwhile, the village is cut off from the outside and the internet is down. Finding her becomes increasingly urgent. An investigation is launched that will bring about a profound change in their lives and in their relationship with the world.
In the 9th century, 17-year-old Emma is named Abbess with the intention of repopulating and Christianising border territories in conflict with the Moors. Arriving at the abbey, she will have to overcome the lack of trust awakened by a woman determined to complete her mission, leading to her confrontation with the nobility, peasants and even the other nuns. Despite it all, Emma will prove that it is possible to challenge the established power structures, even if she will pay dearly for her success...
Teresa changes her holiday plans to help her mother when the latter suffers a minor accident. Mother and daughter will spend a stifling summer together, unable to agree on even the smallest things. But the forced coexistence will stir up more than expected and, in the warm evenings, Teresa will live revealing moments with her mother.
Nina decides to return to the coastal town where she grew up, with a gun in her bag and a purpose: to take revenge on Pedro, a famous author now receiving tribute from the town. The reconnection with the place of her birth, with her memories of the past and with Blas, a childhood friend, will make her wonder if revenge is her only option.
Pepa, Antoñita, Pepi, Esperanza, Remedios, Kiska, Catalina and Rafaela are women between the ages of 68 and 97 from Seville's Triana district. All share a dream: they want to be monologuists, to enjoy success in the world of showbusiness and to defend the right of older women to respect and visibility. They have therefore created a show entitled Orgullo vieja. The film follows the process of creating the company, the rehearsals, the premiere in Seville and their travels throughout Andalusia.